M22

The Typ 380 of 1933 replaced the Mannheim 380 S on an entirely new low box-section frame, and the novelty was underneath rather than under the bonnet: independent suspension at every corner, with unequal-length double wishbones and coil springs at the front. That front end was new to the industry at the time and became the Stuttgart template for the rest of the decade. The straight-eight was inherited in principle from the Mannheim cars but given overhead valves, and the Roots blower did not run continuously — it engaged only when the throttle was pushed past its stop.

Four versions were sold in barely a year: unblown, with a bolted-on compressor, with the compressor built in, and finally bored out to four liters. None of them made the car fast enough. Against the SS and SSK it had been asked to replace, the 380 K was heavy and short of power, and 154 cars in total left the works before the model was dropped in 1934. Mercedes-Benz did not blame the chassis, and it was right not to: the 500 K that took over used the same frame and the same suspension geometry with a much larger engine dropped into it.